Europol/2016/TA/AD7/241

Europol Public Information
The Hague,
Reg. nº:
3 May 2016
Europol/2016/TA/AD7/241
VACANCY NOTICE
Name of the Post:
Senior Specialist – Infrastructure Architect
(AD7), within the ICT Business Area,
Architecture Team of Europol
Reporting to:
Senior Specialist in the Architecture Team
1.
About Europol
Applications are invited for this position at the European Police Office (Europol). 1
Europol is located in The Hague, The Netherlands, and its main tasks are the
following:
a) to collect, store, process, analyse and exchange information and intelligence;
b) to aid investigations in the Member States, in particular by forwarding all
relevant information to the national units;
c) to ask the competent authorities of the Member States concerned to initiate,
conduct or coordinate investigations and to suggest the setting up of joint
investigation teams in specific cases;
d) to provide intelligence and analytical support to Member States in
connection with major international events;
e) to prepare threat assessments, strategic analyses and general situation
reports relating to its objective, including organised crime threat
assessments.
For more information please visit Europol’s website www.europol.europa.eu.
Europol applies a policy of equal opportunity for men and women and
accepts applications without distinction on ground of sex, race colour,
ethnic or social origin, genetic characteristics, and language, religious,
political or other convictions and opinions, financial situation, disability,
age sexual orientation, marital status or family situation. Applications from
female candidates are particularly encouraged. Employment at Europol is
open to nationals of the EU Member States. There is no national quota
system in operation but Europol is required to strive for a broad range of
nationalities in order to keep a well balanced geographical distribution
among its staff members.
1
Europol has been established under the Council Decision (EC) No. 2009/371 of 6 April 2009.
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2.
Background and main purpose of the post
The ICT Business Area has the mission of providing advanced high-security
information management and communication capabilities that enable the mission of
Europol against serious, organised and cyber crime.
Over 120 internal staff members complemented by external resources are
responsible for devising, developing, delivering and operating advanced information
management and communication technology capabilities that ensure enhanced
criminal information analysis and exchange among Member States and third parties.
The selected candidate will work in a team that reports to the Head of ICT, with
architects predominantly focused on the specific architecture domain area for which
they are most competent, but all closely cooperating as an enterprise level team.
The candidate will therefore actively apply his expertise in the architecture
definition and implementation of highly complex, large scale solutions that comply
with security and data protection rules in a rapidly changing, multi-technology
environment.
3.
Tasks and responsibilities
The successful applicant will:

Define the Enterprise Infrastructure architecture in accordance with the
business continuity plans of the organisation, developing and maintaining the
architecture for business continuity and Disaster Recovery;

Devise, evolve and maintain the architecture of the core ICT infrastructure
services, including the ICT storage infrastructure, virtualisation solutions,
including client and server virtualisation, and operating systems;

Devise, evolve and maintain the baseline network and communications
architecture, including telephony, WAN, connectivity services, network
management, physical facilities hosting the infrastructure, hardware,
networking systems software;

Devise, evolve and maintain the architecture of mobility solutions;

Identify and specify ICT infrastructure components, providing guidance and
review for their implementation and configuration, at an appropriate level of
detail agreed with Engineering teams;

Drive the evaluation and selection of the technical products that are required to
implement the ICT infrastructure architecture;

Write and maintain ICT infrastructure technical standards & guidelines for the
organisation;

Assess business cases, project proposals, and project deliverables, to determine
the impact on, and compliance with, the ICT infrastructure architecture,
including sizing and capacity planning considerations.
In addition, (s)he will:

Produce, maintain, update, disseminate and expand the set of baseline
architecture documentation, including the landscape of ICT infrastructure
solutions and their respective roadmaps aligned with the business strategy on
one side and with the IT evolution on the other side;

Be responsible for product management of core ICT infrastructure solutions,
such as the Europol ICT networks, ICT virtualisation solutions, ICT mobility
solutions, and the ICT storage platform;

Assume quality assurance roles in ICT development projects;

Monitor and/or participate to selected EU, law enforcement, or other relevant
forums, and sponsor internal adoption of interfaces and standards;
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
Assume solution design roles in ICT development projects, as needed.

Any other tasks as assigned by the Line Manager.
4.
Requirements
4.1
Eligibility criteria:
a. Candidates must:

Be a national of one of the Member States of the European Union and
enjoy full rights as a citizen;

Have fulfilled any obligations imposed by the applicable laws on
military service;

Produce appropriate character references as to his or her suitability
for the performance of the duties;

Be physically fit to perform the duties pertaining to the position;2

Produce evidence of a thorough knowledge of one of the languages of
the Union and a satisfactory knowledge of another language of the
Union to the extent necessary for the performance of the duties.
b. Candidates must have:
4.2

A level of education
studies, preferably in
Science, attested by a
education is 4 years or
OR
which corresponds to completed university
the area of ICT Engineering or Computer
diploma when the normal period of university
more;

A level of education which corresponds to completed university
studies, preferably in the area of ICT Engineering or Computer
Science attested by a diploma and appropriate professional
experience of at least 1 year when the normal period of university
education is 3 years.

In addition to the above at least 6 years of relevant professional
work experience gained in the area of ICT after the award of the
diploma.
Selection criteria:
a. Professional experience:
Essential:


2
Enterprise architecture experience: professional experience in
the processes and methods of an established enterprise
architecture function, involved in architecture definition,
specification, change management and in providing architecture
supervision and support to ICT delivery projects;
Professional experience in standard architecture frameworks
(such as The Open Group Architecture Framework or Zachman
Architecture Framework);
Prior to appointment the successful candidate will be medically examined by one of the institution’s
medical officers in order that the institution may be satisfied that the candidate fulfils the
requirements of Article 12(2)(d) CEOS
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

Professional
experience
in
Architecture
Modelling:
conceptualisation, modelling, and visualisation of architecture
models and designs;
Professional experience in the following domain areas:
 Data centre
 Networking and communications
 Storage solutions
 Virtualisation solutions
 Mobility solutions
 Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity solutions
 Cloud computing
Desirable:




Work experience in a complex public sector environment, or at
least in a highly regulated environment with an articulated
governance model;
Experience with the Archimate modelling standard
Experience of working in an international, multi-disciplinary
environment;
Experience in the following domain areas:
 Information security
 Cryptography and cryptographic technologies
 Forensic IT processes and technologies
 TEMPEST concepts and techniques
b. Professional knowledge:
Essential:

Knowledge of the concepts, methods, techniques and
representative products in the following domain areas:
 Hardware architectures and standards: for servers,
desktops, laptops, mobile devices, network and telephony
appliances;
 Data network architectures, protocols and standards,
covering LAN, WAN, wireless, VPN and public networks;
remote access solutions;
 Network and infrastructure management processes,
organisation and tools;
 Storage technologies;
 Virtualisation solutions, including server virtualisation,
Server
Based
client
virtualisation
and
desktop
virtualisation;
 Telephony, VoIP, mobility technologies including Mobile
Device Management solutions;
 Load balancing, high availability, clustering, proxy,
reverse-proxy, firewall, intrusion prevention and detection,
disk mirroring architectures and technologies;
c. Technical skills and competencies:
Essential:

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Excellent communication skills in English, both orally and in writing;
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
Strong analytical and problem solving skills including the ability to
anticipate potential problems, determine and implement solutions;

Excellent organizational skills with the ability to organize, plan and
track assignments for consultant’s work, providing guidance and
setting direction;

Excellent PC skills with professional competence on the Microsoft
Office product suite.
Desirable:

Experience in using Enterprise Architecture tools, such as Casewise
Corporate Modeller or Sparx Enterprise Architect.
d. Social skills and competencies:
Essential:
5.

Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to work well under
pressure, both independently and in a team;

High level of customer-orientation;

Ability to establish and maintain effective working relations with coworkers in an international and multi-disciplinary work environment;

High degree of commitment and flexibility.
Selection procedure3
The Contracting Authority sets up a Selection Committee which consists of three
members, one from the Business Area Administration/Recruitment and Selection
Team of Europol, one from the concerned Business Area or Department and one
designated by the Staff Committee.
For non-restricted posts the Contracting Authority may designate up to two
additional members to the Selection Committee on a proposal from the
Management Board, either from another service of Europol, from outside Europol or
from outside the community institutions including Member States.
The Selection Committee determines candidates’ suitability for the position by
assessing their skills, experience and qualifications against the established job
profile and makes an initial selection from the applications received.
The Selection Committee will invite the 5 highest scoring candidates (short-listed).
All candidates having a score equal to the 5th highest scoring candidate will be
included to the list of invited candidates.
Shortlisted applicants are invited to participate in a post-related selection procedure,
generally consisting of written and/or practical tests and competency-based
interviews.
The Contracting Authority makes a decision of appointment on the basis of advice
from the Selection Committee. He will inform the Committee of his decision. All
candidates who attend the selection procedure will be informed of the outcome.
Candidates who attended a selection procedure may request feedback on their
performance of the written test and interview within three months after the
3
Detailed information on the selection procedure, including the appeal procedure is available in the
Europol Recruitment Guidelines, on Europol’s website.
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selection procedure. Europol will not be in a position to respond to feedback
inquiries received outside this time frame.
The Selection Committee’s work and deliberations are confidential. It is forbidden
for candidates to make direct or indirect contact with the members of the Selection
Committee or for anyone to do so on their behalf. All enquiries or requests for
information or documentation in relation to the competition should be addressed to
the Europol Recruitment Office.
6.
Salary
Scale: AD7
The basic monthly salary is EUR 5 747, 35 (step 1) or EUR 5 988, 86 (step 2).
The step in grade is determined on the basis of professional experience gained after
the education required for the position and in line with applicable implementing
rules.
In addition, if applicable, allowances such as expatriation allowance,
household allowance, dependent child and education allowance may be
granted.
Europol offers a comprehensive welfare package comprising additional
benefits such as medical insurance, unemployment and invalidity
allowance as well as a pension scheme.
Salaries are subject to a community tax but exempt from national taxation.
7.
Terms and conditions
7.1
Probation period
Engagement for this position is subject to the successful completion of a
probationary period of 9 months. Within this period the successful candidate will
have to undergo a post-related security screening.
Europol reserves the right to terminate the contract of employment during or at the
end of the probation period in accordance with Article 14 of CEOS.
7.2
Security screening and certificate of good conduct
All candidates who have successfully passed a selection procedure are required to
apply for a national “certificate of good conduct” at the time an offer of employment
is made. The “certificate of good conduct” must be provided to Europol prior the
signature of the employment contract. In case of unfavourable entries in the
“Certificate of good conduct” Europol reserves the right not to award an
employment contract.
However, the national certificate of good conduct does not substitute a valid full
Personal Security Clearance Certificate (PSCC) that must be obtained for all Europol
staff at the level indicated in the Job Description. A PSCC is a certificate issued by a
competent authority establishing that an individual is security cleared. It contains:
the level of clearance; the date of issuance and the date of expiry. Failure to obtain
the requisite security clearance before the expiration of the probationary period
may be cause for termination of employment contract.
The requested level of Security Clearance
CONFIDENTIEL/EU CONFIDENTIAL.
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7.3
Contract of employment
The successful candidate will be recruited as Temporary Agent AD7 pursuant to
Article 2 (f) of CEOS, for a period of 5 years4 (full-time – 40 hours a week).
The contract may be renewed once for a period of 4 years. Only in highly
exceptional cases, Europol grants third contracts of an indefinite nature.
The place of employment will be The Hague, The Netherlands.
For further information on terms and conditions please consult the EC Staff
Regulations which are available on Europol’s website www.europol.europa.eu.
8.
Data Protection
The data submitted is processed in order to assess the suitability of candidates for
a position at Europol. All personal data collected for the purpose of the selection
procedure will only be used within this specific context and will not be disclosed to
any third party, except for restricted posts in which the application may be
transmitted to the National Unit and the respective Liaison Bureau.
Any data provided will be treated in strict confidence and in full compliance with all
applicable data protection rules. The legal bases for the processing of personal data
are the Staff Regulations of Officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other
Servants of the European Communities (Title III Chapter 1) and their implementing
rules.
All documents provided to Europol will be kept in Europol’s files and will not be
returned to the candidate. Applications of non-recruited candidates will be kept for
a maximum of two years. Data of non-recruited applicants on the reserve list for
appointment will be kept for a maximum of two years after the expiry of the
reserve list. Data of recruited candidates will be transferred to their personal file.
The Business Manager of HR is responsible for the data processing operation.
Candidates have the right to access, rectify, block and erase their personal data in
accordance with the applicable data protection rules.
Candidates have the right of recourse to the Europol Data Protection Office (Data
Protection Office - PO Box 90850, 2509 LW The Hague, The Netherlands) and the
Joint Supervisory Body (www.europoljsb.consilium.europa.eu). Applications sent to
the DPO or JSB will not be processed and will be deleted.
9.
Additional Information
9.1
Deadline for application:
30 June 2016
Selection procedure:
September 2016
Starting date:
As soon as possible
4
For the internal candidates, the duration of the current contract will be taken into account in the total
duration of the contract.
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9.2
Selection procedure
Please refer to the EUROPOL RECRUITMENT GUIDELINES available on Europol’s
website www.europol.europa.eu for further details on the application process and
the selection procedure.
9.3
Contact Details
For further details on the application process please call +31 (0) 70 353 1298 or
+31 (0) 70 302 5033.
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